Steering (towards a post apology Australia) without a rudder

After Kevin Rudd’s Apology to Indigenous Peoples after his election as Prime Minister in 2008 the climate was hopeful with many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women (and non-Indigenous women, too) breathing a sigh of relief that the disastrous effects of White Australia’s government policies had at last been symbolically, publicly and officially acknowledged. There was also, though, skepticism about the ‘real’ change this Apology might have for Indigenous Australians. Many of us wondered if the Apology would make any difference at all in the ‘real’ world, where the gaps between non-Indigenous and Indigenous Australians is still so glaringly apparent in areas such as health, education, housing and employment.

Impacts and adaptation response of infrastructure and communities to heatwaves : the southern Australian experience of 2009

From 27 January to 8 February during the summer of 2009, southern Australia experienced one of the nation‘s most severe heatwaves. Governments, councils, utilities, hospitals and emergency response organisations and the community were largely underprepared for an extreme event of this magnitude. This case study targets the experience and challenges faced by decision makers and policy makers and focuses on the major metropolitan areas affected by the heatwave — Melbourne and Adelaide. The study examines the 2009 heatwave‘s characteristics; its impacts (on human health, infrastructure and human services); the degree of adaptive capacity (vulnerability and resilience) of various sectors, communities and individuals; and the reactive responses of government and emergency and associated services and their effectiveness. Barriers and challenges to adaptation and increasing resilience are also identified and further areas for research are suggested. This study does not include details of the heatwave‘s effects beyond Victoria and South Australia, or its economic impacts, or of Victoria‘s 'Black Saturday‘ bushfires.

Rumination, post-traumatic growth, and distress : structural equation modelling with cancer survivors

Objective Theoretical models of post-traumatic growth (PTG) have been derived in the general trauma literature to describe the post-trauma experience that facilitates the perception of positive life changes. To develop a statistical model identifying factors that are associated with PTG, structural equation modelling (SEM) was used in the current study to assess the relationships between perception of diagnosis severity, rumination, social support, distress, and PTG. Method A statistical model of PTG was tested in a sample of participants diagnosed with a variety of cancers (N=313). Results An initial principal components analysis of the measure used to assess rumination revealed three components: intrusive rumination, deliberate rumination of benefits, and life purpose rumination. SEM results indicated that the model fit the data well and that 30% of the variance in PTG was explained by the variables. Trauma severity was directly related to distress, but not to PTG. Deliberately ruminating on benefits and social support were directly related to PTG. Life purpose rumination and intrusive rumination were associated with distress. Conclusions The model showed that in addition to having unique correlating factors, distress was not related to PTG, thereby providing support for the notion that these are discrete constructs in the post-diagnosis experience. The statistical model provides support that post-diagnosis experience is simultaneously shaped by positive and negative life changes and that one or the other outcome may be prevalent or may occur concurrently. As such, an implication for practice is the need for supportive care that is holistic in nature.

Project-based IHRM : the emerging approach for the post-GFC world?

This paper reviews some past emphases in IHRM, and recommends that IHR teachers and practitioners consider using project management methodologies to tighten the focus of our diverse activities.

Comparison of Nucleotide Sequences between Northern and Southern Philippine Isolates of Rice Grassy Stunt Virus Indicates Occurrence of Natural Genetic Reassortment

Rice grassy stunt virus is a member of the genus Tenuivirus, is persistently transmitted by a brown planthopper, and has occurred in rice plants in South, Southeast, and East Asia (similar to North and South America). We determined the complete nucleotide (nt) sequences of RNAs 1 (9760 nt), 2 (4069 nt), 3 (3127 nt), 4 (2909 nt), 5 (2704 nt), and 6 (2590 nt) of a southern Philippine isolate from South Cotabato and compared them with those of a northern Philippine isolate from Laguna (Toriyama et al., 1997, 1998). The numbers of nucleotides in the terminal untranslated regions and open reading frames were identical between the two isolates except for the 5′ untranslated region of the complementary strand of RNA 4. Overall nucleotide differences between the two isolates were only 0.08% in RNA 1, 0.58% in RNA 4, and 0.26% in RNA 5, whereas they were 2.19% in RNA 2, 8.38% in RNA 3, and 3.63% in RNA 6. In the intergenic regions, the two isolates differed by 9.12% in RNA 2, 11.6% in RNA 3, and 6.86% in RNA 6 with multiple consecutive nucleotide deletion/insertions, whereas they differed by only 0.78% in RNA 4 and 0.34% in RNA 5. The nucleotide variation in the intergenic region of RNA 6 within the South Cotabato isolate was only 0.33%. These differences in accumulation of mutations among individual RNA segments indicate that there was genetic reassortment in the two geographical isolates; RNAs 1, 4, and 5 of the two isolates came from a common ancestor, whereas RNAs 2, 3, and 6 were from two different ancestors.

Design and implementation of sensor networks for the observation and research of harmful algal blooms in southern California coastal waters

Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) have become an important environmental concern along the western coast of the United States. Toxic and noxious blooms adversely impact the economies of coastal communities in the region, pose risks to human health, and cause mortality events that have resulted in the deaths of thousands of fish, marine mammals and seabirds. One goal of field-based research efforts on this topic is the development of predictive models of HABs that would enable rapid response, mitigation and ultimately prevention of these events. In turn, these objectives are predicated on understanding the environmental conditions that stimulate these transient phenomena. An embedded sensor network (Fig. 1), under development in the San Pedro Shelf region off the Southern California coast, is providing tools for acquiring chemical, physical and biological data at high temporal and spatial resolution to help document the emergence and persistence of HAB events, supporting the design and testing of predictive models, and providing contextual information for experimental studies designed to reveal the environmental conditions promoting HABs. The sensor platforms contained within this network include pier-based sensor arrays, ocean moorings, HF radar stations, along with mobile sensor nodes in the form of surface and subsurface autonomous vehicles. FreewaveTM radio modems facilitate network communication and form a minimally-intrusive, wireless communication infrastructure throughout the Southern California coastal region, allowing rapid and cost-effective data transfer. An emerging focus of this project is the incorporation of a predictive ocean model that assimilates near-real time, in situ data from deployed Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs). The model then assimilates the data to increase the skill of both nowcasts and forecasts, thus providing insight into bloom initiation as well as the movement of blooms or other oceanic features of interest (e.g., thermoclines, fronts, river discharge, etc.). From these predictions, deployed mobile sensors can be tasked to track a designated feature. This focus has led to the creation of a technology chain in which algorithms are being implemented for the innovative trajectory design for AUVs. Such intelligent mission planning is required to maneuver a vehicle to precise depths and locations that are the sites of active blooms, or physical/chemical features that might be sources of bloom initiation or persistence. The embedded network yields high-resolution, temporal and spatial measurements of pertinent environmental parameters and resulting biology (see Fig. 1). Supplementing this with ocean current information and remotely sensed imagery and meteorological data, we obtain a comprehensive foundation for developing a fundamental understanding of HAB events. This then directs labor- intensive and costly sampling efforts and analyses. Additionally, we provide coastal municipalities, managers and state agencies with detailed information to aid their efforts in providing responsible environmental stewardship of their coastal waters.

Networked robotic sensor platform deployments for use in coastal environmental assessment in southern California

Mobile sensor platforms such as Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) and robotic surface vessels, combined with static moored sensors compose a diverse sensor network that is able to provide macroscopic environmental analysis tool for ocean researchers. Working as a cohesive networked unit, the static buoys are always online, and provide insight as to the time and locations where a federated, mobile robot team should be deployed to effectively perform large scale spatiotemporal sampling on demand. Such a system can provide pertinent in situ measurements to marine biologists whom can then advise policy makers on critical environmental issues. This poster presents recent field deployment activity of AUVs demonstrating the effectiveness of our embedded communication network infrastructure throughout southern California coastal waters. We also report on progress towards real-time, web-streaming data from the multiple sampling locations and mobile sensor platforms. Static monitoring sites included in this presentation detail the network nodes positioned at Redondo Beach and Marina Del Ray. One of the deployed mobile sensors highlighted here are autonomous Slocum gliders. These nodes operate in the open ocean for periods as long as one month. The gliders are connected to the network via a Freewave radio modem network composed of multiple coastal base-stations. This increases the efficiency of deployment missions by reducing operational expenses via reduced reliability on satellite phones for communication, as well as increasing the rate and amount of data that can be transferred. Another mobile sensor platform presented in this study are the autonomous robotic boats. These platforms are utilized for harbor and littoral zone studies, and are capable of performing multi-robot coordination while observing known communication constraints. All of these pieces fit together to present an overview of ongoing collaborative work to develop an autonomous, region-wide, coastal environmental observation and monitoring sensor network.

Cytochrome p450 isozyme protein verified in the skin of southern hemisphere humpback whales (megaptera novaeangliae) : implications for biochemical biomarker assessment

Large mysticete whales represent a unique challenge for chemical risk assessment. Few epidemiological investigations are possible due to the low incidence of adult stranding events. Similarly their often extreme life-history adaptations of prolonged migration and fasting challenge exposure assumptions. Molecular biomarkers offer the potential to complement information yielded through tissue chemical analysis, as well as providing evidence of a molecular response to chemical exposure. In this study we confirm the presence of cytochrome P450 reductase (CPR) and cytochrome P450 isoenzyme 1A1 (CYP1A1) in epidermal tissue of southern hemisphere humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae). The detection of CYP1A1 in the integument of the humpback whale affords the opportunity for further quantitative non-destructive investigations of enzyme activity as a function of chemical stress.

Mental health of newly arrived Burmese refugees in Australia : contributions of pre-migration and post-migration experience

Objective: This study documents the mental health status of people from Burmese refugee backgrounds, recently arrived in Australia; then examines the contributions of gender, premigration and postmigration factors in predicting mental health. Method: Structured interviews, including a demographic questionnaire, the Harvard Trauma Questionnaire, Postmigration Living Difficulties Checklist and Hopkins Symptom Checklist assessed premigration trauma, postmigration living difficulties, depression, anxiety, somatisation and traumatisation symptoms in a sample of 70 adults across five Burmese ethnic groups. Results: Substantial proportions of participants reported psychological distress in symptomatic ranges including: posttraumatic stress disorder (9%); anxiety (20%), and; depression (36%), as well as significant symptoms of somatisation (37%). Participants reported multiple and severe premigration traumas. Postmigration living difficulties of greatest concern included communication problems and worry about family not in Australia. Gender did not predict mental health. Level of exposure to traumatic events and postmigration living difficulties each made unique and relatively equal contributions to traumatisation symptoms. Postmigration living difficulties made unique contributions to depression, anxiety and somatisation symptoms. Conclusions: While exposure to traumatic events impacted on participants’ mental wellbeing, postmigration living difficulties had greater salience in predicting mental health outcomes of people from Burmese refugee backgrounds. Reported rates of posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms were consistent with a large review of adults across seven western countries. High levels of somatisation pointed to a nuanced expression of distress. Findings have implications for service provision in terms of implementing appropriate interventions to effectively meet the needs of this newly arrived group in Australia.

Sustaining the ecological, social and economic values of the forests of Southern Tasmania

This thesis articulates a methodology that can be applied to the analysis and design of underlying organisational structures and processes that will consistently and effectively address ‘wicked problems’ (the most difficult class of problems that we can conceptualise: problems which consist of ‘clusters’ of problems; problems within these clusters cannot be solved in isolation from one another, and include sociopolitical and moral-spiritual issues (Rittel and Webber 1973)) in forestry. This transdisciplinary methodology has been developed from the perspective of institutional economics synthesised with perspectives from ecological economics and system dynamics. The institutionalist policymaking framework provides an approach for the explicit development of holistic policy. An illustrative application of this framework has been applied to the wicked problem of forestry in southern Tasmania as an example of the applicability of the approach in the Australian context. To date all attempts to seek solutions to that prevailing wicked problem set have relied on non-reflexive, partial and highly reductionist thinking. A formal assessment of prevailing governance and process arrangements applying to that particular forestry industry has been undertaken using the social fabric matrix. This methodology lies at the heart of the institutionalist policymaking framework, and allows for the systematic exploration of elaborately complex causal links and relationships, such as are present in southern Tasmania. Some possible attributes of an alternative approach to forest management that sustains ecological, social and economic values of forests have been articulated as indicative of the alternative policy and management outcomes that real-world application of this transdisciplinary, discursive and reflexive framework may crystallise. Substantive and lasting solutions to wicked problems need to be formed endogenously, that is, from within the system. The institutionalist policymaking framework is a vehicle through which this endogenous creation of solutions to wicked problems may be realised.

Board network characteristics and company performance in Sweden : the case of Gnosjö companies and their board members in southern Sweden

When managers of entrepreneurial companies typically talk about strategies, they first consider what products to make and secondly where to locate the business. The entrepreneurial companies locate in rural areas because of a wish to maintain a certain lifestyle, or because they can combine a resource available there with certain knowledge or interest that they have (Getz and Nilsson, 2004). In addition, many managers of entrepreneurial companies are confident in locating in a rural area, because there often is economic and social structure supportive of local corporate governance. The most central part of corporate governance is the board of directors. In an entrepreneurial company in a rural area, such members of boards are most likely to be individuals in dominant positions influential in the local economy.

Evolutionary biology of Gondwanan non-biting midges (Diptera: Chironomidae)

The potential restriction to effective dispersal and gene flow caused by habitat fragmentation can apply to multiple levels of evolutionary scale; from the fragmentation of ancient supercontinents driving diversification and speciation on disjunct landmasses, to the isolation of proximate populations as a result of their inability to cross intervening unsuitable habitat. Investigating the role of habitat fragmentation in driving diversity within and among taxa can thus include inferences of phylogenetic relationships among taxa, assessments of intraspecific phylogeographic structure and analyses of gene flow among neighbouring populations. The proposed Gondwanan clade within the chironomid (non-biting midge) subfamily Orthocladiinae (Diptera: Chironomidae) represents a model system for investigating the role that population fragmentation and isolation has played at different evolutionary scales. A pilot study by Krosch et al (2009) indentified several highly divergent lineages restricted to ancient rainforest refugia and limited gene flow among proximate sites within a refuge for one member of this clade, Echinocladius martini Cranston. This study provided a framework for investigating the evolutionary history of this taxon and its relatives more thoroughly. Populations of E. martini were sampled in the Paluma bioregion of northeast Queensland to investigate patterns of fine-scale within- and among-stream dispersal and gene flow within a refuge more rigorously. Data was incorporated from Krosch et al (2009) and additional sites were sampled up- and downstream of the original sites. Analyses of genetic structure revealed strong natal site fidelity and high genetic structure among geographically proximate streams. Little evidence was found for regular headwater exchange among upstream sites, but there was distinct evidence for rare adult flight among sites on separate stream reaches. Overall, however, the distribution of shared haplotypes implied that both larval and adult dispersal was largely limited to the natal stream channel. Patterns of regional phylogeographic structure were examined in two related austral orthoclad taxa – Naonella forsythi Boothroyd from New Zealand and Ferringtonia patagonica Sæther and Andersen from southern South America – to provide a comparison with patterns revealed in their close relative E. martini. Both taxa inhabit tectonically active areas of the southern hemisphere that have also experienced several glaciation events throughout the Plio-Pleistocene that are thought to have affected population structure dramatically in many taxa. Four highly divergent lineages estimated to have diverged since the late Miocene were revealed in each taxon, mirroring patterns in E. martini; however, there was no evidence for local geographical endemism, implying substantial range expansion post-diversification. The differences in pattern evident among the three related taxa were suggested to have been influenced by variation in the responses of closed forest habitat to climatic fluctuations during interglacial periods across the three landmasses. Phylogeographic structure in E. martini was resolved at a continental scale by expanding upon the sampling design of Krosch et al (2009) to encompass populations in southeast Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria. Patterns of phylogeographic structure were consistent with expectations and several previously unrecognised lineages were revealed from central- and southern Australia that were geographically endemic to closed forest refugia. Estimated divergence times were congruent with the timing of Plio-Pleistocene rainforest contractions across the east coast of Australia. This suggested that dispersal and gene flow of E. martini among isolated refugia was highly restricted and that this taxon was susceptible to the impacts of habitat change. Broader phylogenetic relationships among taxa considered to be members of this Gondwanan orthoclad group were resolved in order to test expected patterns of evolutionary affinities across the austral continents. The inferred phylogeny and estimated divergence times did not accord with expected patterns based on the geological sequence of break-up of the Gondwanan supercontinent and implied instead several transoceanic dispersal events post-vicariance. Difficulties in appropriate taxonomic sampling and accurate calibration of molecular phylogenies notwithstanding, the sampling regime implemented in the current study has been the most intensive yet performed for austral members of the Orthocladiinae and unsurprisingly has revealed both novel taxa and phylogenetic relationships within and among described genera. Several novel associations between life stages are made here for both described and previously unknown taxa. Investigating evolutionary relationships within and among members of this clade of proposed Gondwanan orthoclad taxa has demonstrated that a complex interaction between historical population fragmentation and dispersal at several levels of evolutionary scale has been important in driving diversification in this group. While interruptions to migration, colonisation and gene flow driven by population fragmentation have clearly contributed to the development and maintenance of much of the diversity present in this group, long-distance dispersal has also played a role in influencing diversification of continental biotas and facilitating gene flow among disjunct populations.